Ad Nauseum: Joggers and Cyclists Get Out of the Way!

For a full copy of the ad, ##http://la.streetsblog.org/?attachment_id=59613##click here.##

Via the website Girl Bike Love comes one of the more depressing automobile advertisements we’ve seen recently. Used car resale dealership Tyme Auto Group, proudly serving Northern Ohio and Michigan, proudly offers a discount to any jogger or cyclist who promises to stay off the road the author is driving on (sic).

It’s hardly uncommon for an advertiser to try and attract their target audience by mocking another one. For example, every football fan has been subjected to beer commercials with attractive women mocking awkward men for not recognizing the brilliance of Miller Light this past season, but there’s always a chance this one could backfire. After all, all one has to do to be considered a “cyclist or jogger” is own a bicycle or pair of shoes and self-identify. And who doesn’t like a 15% discount? Even if it is just for a 2000 Chrysler Concorde?

The car dealer who placed this ad would appear to be the kind that makes “used car salesman” a synonym for “sleazy operator”. The vehicles in the ad are definitely not “late model” and their reliability would be open to question. There was a photo on the “Bus Bench” website showing a transit shelter with an ad for the “Auto Trader” that showed a cover of the publication with “Or Take the Bus” emblazoned on it. Another take on the theme of “outta my way!” would be: The President of the US has a job with awesome responsibilities and daunting obstacles, but at least he has his motorcades and helicopters so he never has to worry about getting stuck in traffic.

Spokker

“There was a photo on the “Bus Bench” website showing a transit shelter with an ad for the “Auto Trader” that showed a cover of the publication with “Or Take the Bus” emblazoned on it.”

It works in LA, but would that kind of ad fly in DC? In DC, the people who take the Metrorail are pretty well-off on average.

Don’t blame Auto Trader for that ad. Blame those in charge of developing our public transit system. And part of that blame lies with voters and taxpayers who help decide these things.

poncho

Most of us would rather not buy such shitty cars from a sleezy worthless used car dealer. These cars belong in a junk yard, not on the street I’M jogging/cycling on.

Spokker

Hey, one of those cars may have been owned by someone famous!

Bob Davis

I commented on another board (maybe the Bus Bench) on how one very rarely hears good things about public transit. Whether it’s LA Metro, SF Muni, Boston’s MBTA or just about any other large transit operation, the gripe list is usually much longer than the positive comments file. I suspect if you went back 100 years, Angelenos were complaining about how rough riding and drafty the LA Railway streetcars were, or how inconvenient and infrequent the Red Cars to their town were. One of my challenges to transit activists is: If you won the super Megabucks lottery, and had bushels of money, would you still ride the bus? Or would the first thing you did be to buy a limo and hire a driver?

Spokker

“I suspect if you went back 100 years, Angelenos were complaining about how rough riding and drafty the LA Railway streetcars were, or how inconvenient and infrequent the Red Cars to their town were.”

As streetcar service was in its sunset, those complaints were very real. Unfortunately, operators were not allowed to raise fares in order to fix the oft complained about problems.

Sounds similar to today, where there are many calling for 24/7 frequent bus service to every point in the county and not willing to pay a dime for it.

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